A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for killing his father six months ago in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. He managed to evade the police all this while, taking tips from a popular crime series. 

After the arrest, when police checked his phone, they were shocked to find that the class 12 boy had watched the TV series Crime Patrol over 100 times since the killing and had taken cues from it to give police the slip.

According to news agency IANS, the incident took place on May 2 when the boy in a fit of anger hit his father, Manoj Mishra, 42, on the head with an iron rod causing him to faint. He then strangled him with a piece of cloth. 

The boy, with the help of his mother, then took the body on a two-wheeler to a forest five kilometers away and set it on fire using petrol and cleaning agent.

The police found Mishra’s body on May 3 in a semi-burnt state. The body could not be identified for this reason for the next three weeks.

Its identity could only be ascertained when people from ISKCON– where Mishra worked as a donation collector– identified it from the glasses Mishra used to wear. 

The family were forced to file a missing report on May 27 with the police only at the insistence of ISKCON personnel, who did not suspect his absence for days since he would usually go on tours to preach Bhagvad Gita.

Mathura Superintendent of Police (city) Udai Shankar Singh said that whenever police called Mishra’s son for questioning, he would make excuses and ask them about legal provisions under he was being called for interrogation.

When police checked his phone it was shocked to find that the boy had watched Crime Patrol more than 100 times in last few months. On interrogation, the boy confessed to his crime. 

The police have arrested the boy and his mother Sangeeta Mishra, 39, for murder and destroying evidence.  The 11-year-old sister of the accused has been sent to her grandparents.